MiG-35 has edge over rivals in Indian fighter tender: Official

PTI|

Oct 03, 2008, 07.31 PM IST

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MOSCOW: The MiG-35 fighters offered to India by Russia under New Delhi's USD 10 billion global tender for acquisition of 126 medium multi-role jets has an edge over rivals including US F-16s and F-18s, a top aviation industry official here claimed.

"The competition is very tough, but we have several trump cards - MiG-35's superb performance characteristics and the fact that Russia and India share a long-standing partnership in strategic and political cooperation," President of United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) Alexei Fedorov told reporters after his recent India visit with Russian Defence Minister.

He said the UAC is optimistic about MiG-35 winning the race as an advanced version of MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter in service with the Indian Air Force.

Six major aircraft makers - Lockheed and Boeing from the US with F-16 and F-18, Russia's MiG, France's Dassault, Sweden's SAAB and EADS, a consortium of British, German, Spanish and Italian companies with Eurofighter -- are in the race for the USD 10 billion deal.

"So far, none of the participants has met the demands of the tender put forward by the Indian Air Force," Fedorov said adding that due to its flying characteristics MiG-35 has an edge over its rivals.

"Secondly, we have a very long history of our relationship of not only supply of readymade planes but also their licensed production in India. In case of MiG-35's victory, the Indian side would have to spend much less amount for the creation of infrastructure for the use, maintenance and servicing of this aircraft," he underscored.

Fedorov, who was in charge of Indo-Russian Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter development and production deal, believes that in defence cooperation the 'level of political trust' is highly important. "We have a very close bilateral political and economic ties and this is our third advantage."